Lesson learned
by COOKIES4
Summary: Matthew's planned out his entire life but he never took into account the crazy stuff that just might happen during it. Now he's on the roller-coaster that might just make him happier than he's ever been before... Might.
1. Chapter 1

Matthew sat on the brightly decorated rug. In one hand he held a match in the other, the match box. He struck the match across the box in one fluid motion. The match burst to life, shining off the dew on the grass and the pond in front of him. The dancing flame illuminated Matthew's deep violet eyes, which were trained on the bright full moon hanging high in front of him. Resting the matchbox on the ground, he reached overand picked up the dried corn stalk to the right of him and brought it to the flame. The stalk lit spectacularly turning the flame a bright shade of red with a dark plume of smoke rising above him towards the sky. He stuck the sharpened tip of the stalk in the ground and removed his hands.

The silvery white of the moon and the bright red of the fire clashed on the surface of the pond. Matthew watched the incursion with an amused glint in his eyes. He crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees. Slowly he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the pungent smell of cooking corn. Straining his ears so he could listen to the sounds of the forest he finally cleared his mind and became one with nature.

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><p>"<em>There is no power in ignorance."<em>

Mathew lived by these words. They were the only thing that justified being invisible to him. They were the only reason he did not find himself always competing with his brother for the attention of his peers. These words were spoken to him by his father, the only person he ever truly respected. The only one to see through Matthew's mask and tell him that his dream was every bit as possible as the stars in the sky, as long as he knew how to achieve it. While his brother was off distracting everybody Matthew was working diligently to surpass them, to make sure he was at the top even if no one could see him, but with this last essay on the Arab/Israeli conflict he would finally be able to take a break from working. He would earn his last credit of the semester and have an entire two weeks of 'me time'. After that, the new semester would start and he would finish it top of his class and graduate two years ahead of his age group with a full scholarship to Harvard or Princeton, which ever one presented the best opportunities. Alfred also had a scholarship but it was only a sports scholarship, at least it would give him an incentive to actually go to college though.

"I'm home!" And here comes Alfred now...speak of the devil.

Matthew finished the conclusion to his essay and put his flash-drive in the computer. After downloading his 4 page essay onto it he took it out and deposited his flash-drive on the keychain hanging off his backpack. He'd always loved his backpack for it was literally the epitome he who he was. The backpack was red and white with a giant maple leaf on the front for his Canadian origin. Then on the back was a cartoon depiction of a giant bookzilla destroying a city. To the bottom left side of his backpack, hanging off the side was his key chain. It had a Canadian flag charm, a pair of crossed hokey sticks, a miniature polar bear—which he got right after his step-dad took his stuffed polar bear away, saying he was too old for it. He's still pissed as hell at him—and his flash-drive with a maple leaf on it. The inside of his backpack was nice and neat even though it was stuffed to bursting point with all the books Matthew had checked out from the library two weeks ago. He should remember to return them tomorrow. He'd never had a late book before and he wasn't going to start now.

After looking around his room to make sure everything was in order Matthew stepped into the hallway. He saw Alfred at the bottom of the stairs making out with some chick, looks like he successfully hooked up with another poor girl. Hmm, wonder how this one's gonna react to Alfred's famous break up line: 'Look baby, I'm a hero and heroes can't get tied down to one chick for long or else some villain will use 'em as a weakness and I, Alfred F. Jones have no weaknesses.' Yet Alfred still crawls into Matthew's bed when he watches some horror movie and gets scared.

Yeah, right.

Though Matthew kind of felt sorry for the girls he had to admit that the looks on their faces were priceless when Alfred dumped 'em. Just to see their faces go from heartbroken, to confused, to angry, then conniving, and finally disbelief was like having a direct insight into their minds. They had to have seen it coming, they were not the first girl to be used and thrown away. Why should they expect any better? But that is the reality of high school you gotta fight to be at the top of the food chain and dating Alfred Jones, the most popular kid in school and star quarterback was pretty much it. Sometimes, you just can't help but get the feeling of watching a soap opera and you can't wait for the next installment.

"...Umm, Alfred?" Matthew mumbled out in a tiny voice. Obviously this was not gonna get him anywhere. So he walked to his room, retrieved his hockey stick and a shoe and came back. He dropped the shoe on the top step, lining up the shoe and Alfred's head. He brought his hockey stick up high and concentrated hard. This was a hit or miss situation and he really didn't want to see the outcome of a miss.

In one fluid motion he brought the hockey stick down and it connected with the shoe. It was almost beautiful how it flew in a perfect arch, almost in slow motion. Inevitably it had to come down sometime and it hit the back of Alfred's head. It's good to see his aim was still as great as it always was.

Alfred sort of lurched forward before he pulled back and glared at the source of the shoe. It took all of Matthew's will-power not to collapse on the floor and laugh himself to death but he had more important things to do.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Alfred yelled at him

"_That _was for not showing up." Said Matthew seemingly unfazed, all his anger from earlier today rising back up. He had actually forgotten that he was angry, right until Alfred had screamed at him.

"Showing up for what?" Alfred asked incredulously.

"You were supposed to pick me up from hockey practice and you never showed up! I had to walk half a mile home, _in the rain!_" Matthew's voice gradually grew softer in tenor, his anger was starting to subside and now he was just talking a little louder than his regular voice.

"Oh well... sorry bro." Alfred looked down at his feet sheepishly, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Can someone _please _tell me what just happened?" The girl asked. Matthew had forgotten she was even there.

Alfred looked up at her. Looks like he forgot too...huh.

"Umm, well Elizabetta this is Matthew. Matthew this is Elizabetta, my new girlfriend." Alfred introduced tentatively, almost like he was afraid.

"Oh, so you're the Canadian foreign exchange student staying with Alfred's family?"

WHAT?

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><p>Gilbert slowly got up at the sound of his alarm clock singing 'World painted blood' by Slayer. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he tried to navigate the wilderness of blankets and pillows on his bed, eventually landing himself on the floor.<p>

"Shit! Who knew waking up could be so dangerous?" Gilbert scratched the back of his head and yawned. He quickly got up and grabbed some clothes out of the closet. Bypassing the shoes, pizza boxes, and beer bottles on the floor.

"What the hell happened last night?" Gilbert inquired to himself. He got his answer in the form of a throbbing headache.

"Ahh, I get it." Gilbert replied to himself, proud that his first question of the day was answered even at the cost of a hang over. Last night, Gilbert raided his beer stash and ordered a bunch of pizzas. He then proceeded to throw everyone's shoes at different offending walls.

"Why do you always talk to yourself, bruder?" Ludwig's voice resounded all through Gilbert's head.

"Why do you always have to be a clean freak? No one knows. Now keep the fuck down!" Gilbert said reproachfully. After several yelling matches and an angry breakfast. Gilbert made his way out of the house and right to school. If he had had it his way he would have ditched but theirs a limit to how many days you could miss and his was fast approaching. So through the power of sheer will he made it through the day without seriously injuring someone.

'Homework…created by the devil...no, not the devil, it's too evil for him...all the evil forces in the universe, yes! The evil forces in the universe created homework to torture me for not coming to the dark side...WELL THAT'S TOO DAMN BAD! I'M SO AWESOME I'LL GET ALL THIS HOMEWORK DONE! IN YOUR FACE EVIL FORCES!' Gilbert hurriedly set to work on his homework, only stopping to laugh maniacally at the evil forces. After nearly three hours he was done and staggered over to his bed to collapse on it.

"Bruder!" Ludwig called from downstairs.

"Ya West?" Gilbert croaked.

"Dinner's ready!"

"What is it?"

"Wurst!"

'Should have known.' Gilbert slowly got back up and walked over to his computer. "I'll be down in a minute!"

He typed in his password and opened the window he typed his paper on. His hand dug into his pockets till he found what he was looking for. Pulling out his trusty flash drive he stuck it in the usb port and downloaded his file onto it. Taking his flash drive back out he took a moment to admire the Prussian coat of arms on it. It had taken forever to find this one and it had cost a pretty penny too considering it was custom made, with the words property of the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt on the back in awesome red letters and on the front, the Prussian coat of arms.

God he loved Prussia.

Gilbert got up and dropped the hard drive on his bed before making his way to the door,stealing a look back at his room. 'Man I've really gotta clean this up... meh, maybe tomorrow'. With that he made his way to the kitchen where his brother would surly be wondering what the hell took so long.


	2. Chapter 2

_Matthew stared at Alfred with wide eyes. Did he tell his girlfriend that he wasn't even related to him? Of all the things Alfred has ever done, he's never done anything near this before. Especially since he thought they were so close. Was he not worthy of being his brother anymore?_

"W-what?"Matthew asked, mouth suddenly dry.

"You're the Canadian foreign exchange student, aren't you? I mean that's what Alfred told everyone." Elizabetta stated with a questioning note in her voice. There were a few moments of awkward silence. Elizabetta realized that she was not needed anywhere in the current vicinity. "I think I should be heading home now... before my parents start to wonder where I am. Bye." With that she opened the door and left.

Matthew's betrayal must have showed on his face for the second Alfred looked at him he quickly looked down and shuffled his feet around. How could he, Matthew didn't even bother him as much as he should. He only rode to school with him, and even then he headed off to his own business. He couldn't understand how he could embarrass him enough to make him deny any relation. Hell, no one even noticed Matthew enough to stop and apologize when they bumped into him in the hallway.

"Why?" He asked faintly, feeling the tears threatening to spill over.

Alfred gave a hearty sigh and then looked up with a guilt ridden face.

"I don't know...I guess the guys saw you coming to school with me and they asked why I was always giving you rides...and they wondered why I hung out with the 'dorky, loner, geek who never talks'." Alfred signed quotation marks to reaffirm the other that he didn't think he was a 'dorky, loner geek'. "And so... I said that you were a foreign exchange student who's staying with my family." Matthew turned on his heel and headed towards his room, the tears careening down his face.

"W-wait! Please come back, I'm sorry! Please!" His words fell on deaf ears.

Matthew slammed the door behind him and ran to his bed. Sitting down on the red and white blanket his arm reached out to grab Kumajirou. Kumajirou was the stuffed bear Alfred gave him. He won it for him when they went to the theme park after their dad died. As to be expected all his hand did was grope empty space. Like they say, old habits die hard, so instead he grabbed his favorite pillow and started to weep into it. Gosh darn it! He wished he had Kumajiro! Hmph, he's such a baby, crying for some dumb plushie...you know what? He didn't fucking care! He wanted him and he wanted him NOW!

Matthew quickly got up and walked to the other side of the room. Right under the drawer was a box full of hair pins, nail files, razors, and key copies. He imagined the lock to his parent's room as he picked up a nail file. Ah, the lock, the only way they can make sure no one goes into their room or walks in on them while they're _getting down._Damn_, _that was a picture he really did not need. He's gonna have nightmares tonight.

After examining it he determined that the nail file should work. He shoved it into his pocket and walked over to the door. Pressing his ear to the crack, he listened for Alfred or anyone else. From the sounds of multiple gunshots, he guessed he was playing CALL-OF-DUTY MW3 in his room.

Wow, he bounces back fast, but he guessed he should have expected that. Alfred's not the type to be in any mood but happy for long. Not even if he's the one being an ass and he knows it, even though he's the self proclaimed hero. Cracking the door open Matthew peeked out and looked both ways down the hall. He couldn't take the chance that his mother would come home and see his tear streaked face. She would demand he told her what happened, in which he would probably cover for Alfred and lose one of his only chances to get Kumajiro back.

There's no one there, that's a good sign. As quickly and quietly as he could he discreetly tiptoed out into the hallway and to his parent's room. The lock is a K8-13 lily lock, and he can only remember working with that type of lock once before. Sadly it was years ago so he has no idea how long this was going to take. He bent down on one knee and put the nail file in. With a few jiggles here and some turns there the lock clicked.

That was easy.

Okay, things seem to be going well so far, but the struggle was only half over. He took a deep breath and opened the door as fast as he could. His father once told him that if given the time everything would make noise; that especially goes for doors. The man knew what he was talking about. Heck, everything his dad talked about, he knew. He didn't just talk the talk, he actually walked the walk. No matter how corny that sounded it was simply true.

As soon as the door opened a wave of cold air came rushing out and settled onto his feet. Why the hell was it so cold in here? It was the middle of winter and the thermostat's cranked up to 90 degrees. If anything it should be sweltering. He wondered what they could be hiding in there, he wouldn't put it past them to do something possibly incriminating.

"No Matthew!" He yelled whispered to myself. "You mustn't think this way. You came here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to get Kumajirou back. You can always investigate your parents later."

After reminding himself that he was spending more time than necessary in the hallway he quickly made his way inside. Kumajirou has to be in there, he knew his mom. She always said memories were precious, and Kumajirou was definitely a memory of sorts, and she was not gonna let his step-dad throw it away. Now if he was a frustrated mother, where would he stick his son's teddy bear? Aha! It has to be in the closet! Duh. He walked to the closet and looked through it. After a thorough rummage he gave up, it was clearly not in there. He made sure to put everything back the way he found it, he be damned if he left some evidence behind that'll get him in trouble. Ugh, where to look? And why is it so freezing in here?

Matthew walked over to the t.v absently, just trying to get an idea of where they might have put it. It's by the t.v that he noticed there was a large section of the room by the bed that one would completely miss if you looked around while standing in the doorway. The section was apparently occupied by a mini fridge, which, by the way, was open. Well that explained why it's so cold in here.

Just as he reached to close the mini-fridge an idea struck. He bent down and lifted his parent's teal blue blankets up to look under. OMG! Kumajirou he found it, it's been too long! Matthew couldn't believe that he was gone for the whole week!

Now, to get the hell out of here, he hugged Kumajirou to his chest and walked to the door with a bounce in his step. He peeked out into the hallway and saw no one coming. As quietly as he could, he shut the door and tip-toed/ran to his room. In all the fun of his break-in and 'theft' he had forgotten he was sad at all.

He guessed that's because being sneaky and not getting caught required a lot of concentration. Sure he might be over playing his stunt a little, but its hard work. That's why he loved his job.

"So how was school, bruder?" Ludwig asked out of nowhere, he was looking down at his plate and messing with his wurst, Gilbert wondered what was up with him he hated it when people played with their food.

"It was good. I didn't get detention today, that's gotta count for something," He replied nonchalantly. In all honesty he had spent the whole day worrying about how he was supposed to do this report. There was no way he could write a 4 page report on something as boring as the Arab/Israeli conflict. It just wasn't possible, or so he thought, but being the awesomeness that is himself, he made it possible.

"Bruder whenever you get that self righteous look on your face it worries me." Ludwig looked at him this time, so he amped up 'The look' to strait up cocky.

"Why? Is it 'cause you know I have the right to be self righteous or are you just jealous?" He asked with a smirk. ludwig started laughing. Now he knew something was up. Ludwig never laughed, just never.

"Gott no, I could never be jealous of you. It's just that when you get that look on your face you're always about to say something—"

"I'M FRICKEN AWESOME!"

"—stupid. I rest my case." Ludwig just shrugged and looked at him.

"Whatever, you know I'm awesome." Gilbert huffed at him. Why does he never admit to his awesomeness? It's not that hard, and why does he keep acting strangely? It's like that time when ki—ohh, he got it.

"So who's the lucky girl and when do I get to meet her?" Gilbert put on his signature smirk. He didn't know West had it in him to ask a girl out. Ludwig seemed stunned and appalled at the same time.

"What makes you think I'm seeing someone?" Ludwig's face was now beet red. Gilbert couldn't remember a time when he had gotten him this flustered before.

"Because it's obviously true. Now tell me who she is before I use my own methods to find out." He answered a bit forcefully. Ludwig gave a sigh of defeat. Gilbert swore that this day was full of firsts.

"Feliciano." Ludwig looked down at his food. He kind of reminded him of when they were little kids and their opa would get mad at them for messing around. Ludwig would feel so guilty, even though he got pulled into _Gilbert's _scheme.

"First of all, congrats West. Second of all, welcome to the other side of the fence. I'll be your guide and you can call me if your need anything." He tried to pull off a corny sounding introduction that waitresses do at restaurants. He thought he did pretty well.

"Vati-is-coming-home-tomorrow!" Ludwig yelled. If Gilbert wasn't so stunned by the news he would've complimented him on his diversionary tactics.

"What did you say?" He had to have heard him wrong,"Dad could not be coming back. That son-of-a-bitch could NOT be coming back. Not after all that shit he pulled, mein Gott! Who does he think he is? I swear to Gott, if he steps one foot into this house his ass will be mine!"

"Bruder please calm down. I know you don't like vati but I think he has something very important to say please don't hurt him." He looked up at Ludwig, he had a look on his face that was half sympathetic and half stern. He wondered how he could always be so diplomatic, he swore one of these days Ludwig was going to snap and go bat-shit crazy.

"Fine but I'm telling you, if he steps one toe out of line I'm going to kick him from here to Saigon. You got that?" Gilbert couldn't help but relent. This was his brother for Christ's sake.

"Good." Ludwig started eating his food. During the course of our conversation Gilbert had actually lost his appetite.

"Umm, West I'm not that hungry anymore can I just go to my room?" He asked tentatively. Ludwig was one of those guys who needed everything to be neat and proper.

"Sure." Ludwig looked up and met his eyes. Knowing that Ludwig wasn't upset at him and he was in the clear Gilbert picked up his plate and walked to the kitchen. He dumped whatever was on the plate in the trash and set it in the sink. He wondered what was going to happen tomorrow, his dad was not the type to drop in for no reason. He guessed he would have to find out when the time came. For the mean time, he'd just stick to being awesome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello People, Aliens, kittens, and other awesome organisms! I'm back with a new installment of 'The weird and the craziest', and speaking of **'The weird and the craziest' I was thinking about changing the name to 'Lesson learned' I'd really like to hear your opinion on that matter. Anyway all the same things from chapters past apply to this chapter. Enjoy.****

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><p>General P.O.V<p>

"_Good morning Max"_

"_That's not my name."_

"_Oh! I'm quiet sorry... Mark?"_

"_It's Matthew"_

Matthews day had started out like it usually did. He woke up (after a night of cuddling with kumakiri), made breakfast, he greeted his mom as she rushed out to work, Arthur forgot his name again and if it weren't for the fact that his mom loved the man he would have throttled him already.

In all honestly It was just way to early for this shit. Especially since matthew wasn't in the best of moods after what happened yesterday, Even though he understood why Alfred denied relation to him, it still hurt. So much so that matthew _forgot _to make him breakfast.

" Mornin' peeps"Alfred walked into the kitchen at the perfect moment and Arthur took advantage of the opportunity.

"Ah, it is a good morning isn't it?The weather's perfect for a morning stroll. I think I'll have one right now. By!"Arthur picked up his cup of earl grey and exited the kitchen In record time. Alfred looked at matthew like he couldn't make heads or tales of what just happened. Alfred was really slow in the mornings, a lot more so than after he's had his morning cofee.

"Whats up with dad?Nevermind, whats for breakfast?"Alfred asked worrying about the lack of food on the table a bit more than his concern for his father

" Breakfast? Hm, must of slipped my mind."

"C'mon~ Is there at least anymore coffee?"Alfred asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye's. The day cannot start without a good cup-a-joe.

"Oh, you mean this?", matthew asked innocently and raised his cup of coffee, "Sorry, just finished the last of it" Matthew proceeded to down the rest of his drink.

"Damn it! Look matthew if this is about yesterday, Im sorry! But did you really have to take it out on me like... Like this?"Alfred demanded. This could not be happening, he had never started his day without breakfast, and he really didn't want to start now.

" Well maybe next time _you_ can wake up early and make your own goddamn breakfast and you know what? Brew your own coffee too," Matthew replied in a eerily sweet voice, Each of the words laced with deadly poison.

Alfred shrank back a bit. He wasn't used to matthew being so cold, he actually expected matthew to apologize in a meek stuttering voice and ask forgiveness. Then alfred, being the awesome hero he was,would reprimand him and ask that it not happen again. Matthew would cry with joy and they'd happily go to school with all forgiven, and when they-

"Close your mouth yank, you'll catch flies,"Matthew smirked at the look on alfreds face. He was getting some sort of sick satisfaction at shooting Alfred down. He would have shot at his biggest weakness if he wasn't already feeling guilty and it wouldn't have been so cruel and frankly he was not yet to the point of wanting to be unyieldingly cruel.

Alfred's face changed from one of astonishment to the look of a kicked puppy, Matthews resolve crumbled. Who could kick a puppy?

"Look, I'm sorry for being rude. You won't have to make your own breakfast, don't worry." Matthew walked up to alfred and patted him on the back.

"You can stop by Mcdonalds on the way to school,"Alfred's face lit up like the fourth of july when he heard that. ",and speakin' of school if you don't hurry you'll be late." The look of happiness on Alfred's face was replaced by one of horror.

"Shit! If I'm late for school dad will throw all my video games away, and sell my X-Box on eBay."Alfred hurriedly grabbed his backpack and dug into his pockets for his car keys.

"I doubt he would go that far."Matthew said incredulously.

"Yes, he would. He even said he would, and from my experience dad doesn't go back on his word. Now hurry up and let's go!"Alfred motioned towards the garage door and walked out.

"Um, actually I'm going to school with Gilbert. Sorry I forgot to tell you,"came the sheepish reply from matthew, Alfred did a double take.

"What? Your getting a ride from that pot head Albino?"Alfred asked sceptically. "Okay jokes over let's go."

"No, I'm not joking. I called Gilbert earlier and he said he'd pick me up."Matthew said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, suit yourself. I better see you at school,"Alfred relented.

"Like you ever do,"Grumbled Matthew under his breath.

Alfred got in the car and opened the automatic door. Before he pulled out and drove away he gave a small wave at matthew. Pretending he didn't see it, matthew walked back inside grumbling about what a pretentious little brat Alfred was, using some very choice words.

"Ooh, I didn't know you had such a wide vocabulary" Matthew turned around at the sound of the sly voice of a certain pot head albino. He was wearing a black sex pistols shirt that said 'God save the queen' on the front. His loose fitting jeans hung on his hips with multiple large pockets adorning them and some chains hanging off them.

"Hey gilbert, when did you get here?"Matthew greeted him, glancing out the kitchen window to make sure no one was outside to notice the albino sneak in. The street was thankfully clear.

"About the same time you didn't defend me" Gilbert answered putting his hand over his heart and twisting his face in mock pain.

"Well you were going to have to learn the truth sometime. You _are_ a pot head albino"Matthew said nonchalantly.

"Such cruel words coming from such a pretty face"Matthew smirked mischievously at Gilbert's words .

"C'est la vie"Matthew said saucily. Gilbert gave matthew a strange look then bent down and retrieved his backpack from the table. When he passed it to Matthew they both failed to notice the flash-drive with a maple leaf on it fall to the floor.

"You ready to go,"Gilbert asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be"Matthew answered.

"Good. Here catch"Gilbert tossed Matthew a motorcycle helmet. Matthew just caught it in the niche of time, before it almost crashed into his mom's vase. That would not have ended well.

Without anymore chit-chat they both walked through the kitchen door and down the drive to Gilbert's motorcycle. It was a black Dyna super glide had driven it on only two occasions and they were both only when gilbert was really incapacitated. Though it is technically illegal for him to drive anything for that matter.

"You comin' or what?"Gilbert pulled matthew back to reality.

For some reason he just felt like something was gonna go wrong today. It was a feeling that made him feel sick to his stomach. Matthew looked up at Gilbert who was already on the bike. He looked so natural on his bike, like it was a stallion and he was the cowboy. The light shone off his porcelain skin in such a godly way. He could just feel his arms around him, gentle but secure, and then gilbert would whisper lightly in his ear that he-

Matthew caught himself before he could go any further. His face flushed a dark red, and he let out a quiet "Um, ya i'll be right there,"

He trotted over to the bike and put his helmet on. He then swung one leg over the bike and readjusted his backpack. After making it so that the back pack wasn't so uncomfortable he latched onto gilbert,well aware of his muscles.

"You ready to go, birdie?"Gilbert asked with a feral grin on his face.

"Yes, now go, will ya"Matthew knew this was not going to end well, he could just tell.

"Ohh, snippy now aren't we?" Matthew would've smacked gilbert if he hadn't already taken off at top speed.

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><p>Gilbert slowly got up at the sound of his alarm clock singing 'World painted blood' by Slayer. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he tried to navigate the wilderness of blankets and pillows on his bed. Promptly landing himself on the floor.<p>

"Shit! Who knew waking up could be so dangerous?"Gilbert scratched the back of his head and yawned. He quickly got up and grabbed some clothes out of the closet. Bypassing the shoes, pizza boxes, and beer bottles on the floor.

"What the hell happened last night?"Gilbert inquired to himself. He got his answer in the form of a throbbing head ache.

"Ahh, I get it"Gilbert replied to himself, proud that his first question of the day was answered even at the cost of a hang over. Last night, gilbert raided his beer stash and ordered a bunch of pizzas. He then preceded to throw everyones shoes at different offending walls.

"Why do you always talk to yourself, bruder?" Ludwig's voice resounded all through gilberts head.

"Why do you always have to be a clean freak?no one knows. Now keep the fuck down!" Gilbert said reproachfully.

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><p><strong>I hope you likes the chapter. It's a bit shorter than usual because I had to deal with all the crap that comes with the holidays, but on a brighter note I got to go camping with my family in Estes park, Colorado. It was fricken awesome! I am sorry for the long wait for the chapter, so I promise the next chapter will be at least three times as long as <strong>


	4. chapter 4

**Hello, and thank you for reading the fourth installment of lesson learned. By reading this you've made the spirits of Cookie Forest happy and have garnered a plentiful harvest of cookies. Good job.**

**So as Always I own absolutely nothing but the plot and Possibly some OC's in the future.**

**Warning: Language, Drug Use, and Scary Teachers**

**Enjoy, I hope you like as much as I had fun writing it.**

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><p>"What the hell is wrong with you!" yelled matthew. He quickly tore off the helmet and shoved it at gilbert, all the while glaring at him viciously.<p>

"I think we've established that there are a lot things wrong with me. In fact thats what makes me so awesome, well besides the natural awesome the radiates from me." Gilbert said with a smirk. That awful smirk that just drowned in self righteousness.

"You could've killed us, or worse, gotten us in trouble. WITH. THE. LAW!," Matthew turned around and briskly walked towards the school.

He just could not fathom what would make a person be so reckless on the road, the same road that trucks and hummers and jeeps and minivans drive on . Especially on a motorcycle. Sure, gilbert was crazy but not stupid. In fact some people would consider him a genius if only he would take the time to actually give a crap. Instead he decides to skip class to go smoke weed in the basement and do some very illegal things when nobody's looking. You know what?Being that reckless is pretty much Gilbert's style, but he didn't have to bring Matthew into it.

"C'mon ... you have to admit that was fun," Gilbert whined, keeping an easy pace with matthew "How come you never let yourself go man. It's like you only choose to be cool when your on the job." Gilbert never liked it how matt could change personalities so much. One minute he's eager to catch a ride with you, next he pissed as hell at you. That is so not cool.

Matthew relented, "Yes, that was fun. you happy?"

"As happy as can be. And, uh,I guess it was a bit to early to spring crazy driving on ya,"Gilbert admitted sheepishly. Scratching the back of his head,"Oh and speaking of crazy driving, Yao has a new assignment for you. Just check your parents liquor cabinet."Gil added on cheerfully.

"First of all, your an idiot gilbert. Second of all, my dad goes through his liquor Cabinet everyday. How is he not going to find a strange letter in there?" Matthew implored.

"You don't have to worry about that. Your Parents are going out to a party today it'll just be you and Alfred."

"That'll be a fun night,"sighed matthew sarcastically.

"Trust me, It will. Since, I'm coming over tonight,"Gilbert got a new bounce in his step as he said this. It was the perfect excuse 'Sorry bro but I was over at Matt's place and I lost track of the time. I'll catch up with fuck-face later.'.

"Who said you could come over? God knows what you and alfred will do if I leave the room."Despite the annoyance in Matthew's tone, a warm smile crossed his face. It wasn't everyday he could hang out with friends, between studying, hockey practice, his job, and cooking for the entire family( Alfred included... The little pig!). It was hard to find time for-

' OHH, I'LL TELL YA WHAT I WANT, WHAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT!SOO TELL ME WHAT YOU...'

Matthew stopped and answered his phone,already knowing who it was. Gilbert kept walking until he noticed he was alone. He quickly jogged back to matthew.

"What do you want alfred",Matt's peevishness apparently didn't reach Alfred.

"' I, like, totally forgot my math book in my locker. Can you get it for me?'"

" Really spice girls? C'mon man, I didn't think you were that gay. Keseseses"

"Shut up gilbert. Sure Al"

"' Thanks bro. You're totally awesome. See ya later!'"

" Wait Al! Whats your combination!,"Matthew cried but he got a dial- tone reply. He quickly shut his phone and shoved it in his pocket.

"So you really gonna get his book or are you going to make the right choice and leave him hanging?"Gilbert asked, raising his eyebrows with the look of a fox.

"C'mon, gilbert we're late." They were, again, on their way.

When they reached the inside of the school they made made a little detour through the library until they stopped at a locker with a sign above it that said 'HERO'.

"Dude, you notice how it took a long ass time to get here from the parking lot? It literally felt like ten minutes.".

Matthew uh huh'ed absently as he listened for the click of the combination lock. Since alfred hadn't told him the combination, This was all that was left to do. He heard the loud click and pulled the locker open. What he saw disgusted him to no end. There was a half eaten pizza with mold growing on the bottom, plus a smelly old shirt hanging on the hook, and what looked to be one of those novelty large pencils. It wasn't a novelty pencil.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!"matthew shrieked and ran behind gilbert. Who currently was trying to shield his face.

The commotion was loud enough to make all the teachers come out of their rooms with shock on their faces. Some of the students were also trying to get a look.

"What in the blazes is going on out here? Explain yourself, at once!" the english teacher was the first one to talk.

"NOT TO WORRY YOU'RE HERO IS HERE TO SAVE YOU! Now who is need of my assistance?"Alfred shouted. Choosing that time to make his grande entrance, he jumped out into the middle of the hall with his chest puffed out. The students' giggles could be heard the next hall over.

If the english teacher was mad then, now she was absolutely livid. Her face was a dark shade of maroon and her lips were pursed in a thin line.

"Both of you to the principle's office! NOW!" she glared at both gilbert and Alfred. Seeming to entirely miss matthew. He quickly thanked his lucky stars and proceeded to walk away. Very slowly. His invisibility seemed to be on full blast. And no one noticed him as he walked all the way to another hallway to await Gilbert and Alfred's entrance into the office.

While all the teachers and students were filing back into the classroom and Gilbert and Alfred were being escorted to the office,strangely without a fight and Gilbert looking traumatized, he suspected that now would probably be the right time to quickly grab al's book and head off to class.

He slowly walked up to the locker, took a disgusted look at it and plugged his nose. Then reached out with the tips of his fingers and grabbed hold of the sadly pristine math book, pulling it out then quickly shutting the locker door. Gasping for breath he thought of all the ways everything could have gone wrong, and made a promise to himself that he would make alfred call a pest control person to fumigate his locker.

Gathering himself back up, he walked toward the office. As he approached the bench outside of the office he could see Alfred sulking and Gilbert muttering to himself.

" 'Sup guys?", Matthew sat himself down on the bench.

"Hero's aren't supposed to get in trouble. Were supposed to get the bad guys in trouble. I never liked that teacher", Alfred sulked to matthew.

"I see. So, nothin' much. What about you Gil"matthew turned to gilbert,who was muttering to himself.

"I looked in her eyes. Oh my god her eyes! They're inhuman, I saw pure evil in her eyes. Am I going to hell matthew? I don't wanna go to hell!"Gilbert burst out crying.

"aww, you're not going to hell gilbert. You just saw what no living man is supposed to see. The gate to Hades. This is why we don't look into Ms. Gorgons eyes. It's ironic isn't it?"

"Yeah... Ironic... gorgon..yeah" Gilbert stopped crying,but was still shaking. Ms. Gorgon had gotten him good.

"Man, she did a number on him. Everyone knows not to look her in the eyes, I'm mean everyone's heard the stories. I wonder what happened to make him forget it?"Alfred looked pityingly down at gilbert.

"Oh that? I think I might have stunned him with my scream."Matthew looked down sheepishly.

"That was you?", Alfred said, astonished, "How and why the hell did you scream like that? It sounded like someone was getting murdered. And look at what you did to this poor man, shame on you".

Matthew reared back viscously, " Shame on me! Whose the one that has such a horrifyingly dirty locker that you have roaches living in it? Shame on me! Shame on you!"

"Why are you yelling?" Both matthew and alfred turned at the voice of gilbert.

"Gilbert!"Matthew cried as he threw his arms around him.

"It's good to have you back, buddy" Alfred gave gilbert a firm handshake. Gilbert looked pleasantly surprised.

"back from where?" gilbert asked.

Matthew and alfred exchanged uneasy glances.

"You know, that thing that-"

"I said, back from where?"Gilbert cut matthew off and he looked downright frightening.

"Nowhere, we were just messing with ya, buddy. Ha ha",Alfred answered him. His face an unhealthy shade of white, that mimicked Matthew's completely.

"Oh, O.K",Gilbert seemed back to normal, but matthew wasn't taking any chances. He shoved the math book at Alfred and stood himself up.

"Here's your math book alfred. I'm gonna head to class now, bye"matthew stammered before taking off, leaving a very frightened Alfred behind.

Matthew heaved a sigh as he arrived at his destination. Of coarse he would need to get his stuff before he could go to class. So he ran down to his locker as fast as he could and withdrew his humanities textbook. Then he took off his backpack to retrieve his essay and... it wasn't there. Matthew grasped at the empty air for a couple seconds. His essay really wasn't there. This couldn't be! That essay was his ticket free, the one chance he got to kick back in relax while every one else had to do work. The damnedest thing of all was that, that essay was a quarter of his grade. If he didn't turn it in he'd finish the semester with a C in this class and that would jack up his entire grade point average.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. God fucking dammit!", Matthew cursed to himself. At this point he was filled with so much self loathing he just wanted to crawl underneath a rock and die. But he couldn't take that road dammit! Because that would show weakness and what would his father say if he ever showed weakness? 'I do not deserve to have such a weak son!'no words have ever hurt like those words and since the day his father uttered them he had his utmost hardest to show his strength and he was gonna, even if it took his last breath doing it. With this thought in mind he stared piecing together the beginnings of a plan.

Matthew tossed his textbook back in the locker and slammed it closed. He then ran as quick as he cook towards the basement. When he got to the he pulled a paper clip out of his pocket and bent it into shape, he stuck it in the lock and voila! the door opened. When Matthew realized there was no one down there he calmed down and slowly walked down the steps.

"Watcha doin' man"A hazy voice asked from behind him, effectively scaring the crap out of matthew.

Matthew slowly turned around and was relieved when he saw it was just the janitor. He had a large cap on and his usual blue garb.

"Uh"

"Ahh, I get it man ,you want some bud. Well come on down, Ill let you have some, free of charge."The janitor said a knowing smile.

"Um, no thanks. I just need a quiet place to use my computer."Matthew answered.

"Oh, no problem man. I always get some students needing a place to lay low for a while"The janitor walked down the steps chuckling, with matthew following behind him. At the bottom of the steps is what matthew would call a true bachelor pad. There was a fully functional refrigerator, a large t.v a leopard patterned carpet and purple couch and over in the corner was a large round bed with sheets the same pattern as the carpet and a multitude of pillows. It even had red wall paper.

"Hey, man, we also get free wifi,.If you know what I mean" ,The janitor wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"...Thanks?" Matthew did not know what to say. It was like the janitor never matured past 16. That's just sad.

Without further ado matthew pulled out his laptop and settled on the couch. It was relatively easy to hack in to the school system and into his teachers grade book. But he wasn't here to change his grade. Oh no. he was here to secure it. When he found his teacher's phone number he was all set.

He wrote it down and logged off of his computer.

"Hey, would you mind pretending to be a friend of mine?"The janitor got up from whatever he was doing and looked over at matthew.

"Sure no problem, man", the janitor answered.

"Also I would like to try some of the bud of yours, you mind?"matthew was building off on his first plan and going in a whole new direction.

"Not at all ,man"the janitor walked over to the locker that seemed to be hiding right behind the refrigerator and pulled out two rolled joints and lit them. Then walked over and handed one to matthew.

"Thank you"

"No problem"

Matthew was ready to put the master plan into action. He took out his phone and dialed his moms number.

"' Matthew?'"

Matthew put on his best sick voice, "Hey, Mom"

"' Matthew!Whats wrong? are you O.K!'"

"'Im fine. I Just got really sick on my way to school and I'm at a friends house,"Matthew took a drag of the joint. His lungs burned like they were on fire, he started coughing and wheezing really loudly.

"' Honey! whats wrong? Breathe!'"his moms panicked voice came loudly through the receiver. Janitor figured it was his time to step in.

"Whoa, c'mon Matthew,I brought you some water. Here I'll talk to your mom."the Janitor pretended to console matthew before grabbing the phone, "Excuse me, are you Matthews mom?"

"'Yes, that's me. Can you tell me your address, I'll be right down there to pick him up.'"

Matthew wheezed, "No tell her not to worry. Im taken care of.".

"You don't need to worry about that Miss. Kirkland, Matthew's taken care of. In fact my mothers a nurse and she downstairs right now making some soup,"

"' Fine then may I speak to your mother?'"

Matthew was starting to panic he didn't think she'd ask that. What was he going to do?

"Yes, of coarse" The janitor answered easily, "Just give me a sec". He promptly put his hand on the speaker.

"What am I going to do?"Matthew asked frantically.

"don't worry, man I got this,"

"What the hell is your name?"

"The names lars man, straight from the Netherlands,"Lars pointed a proud thumb at him-self and gave matthew a ten thousand dollar smile.

"Sorry but I gotta take this" lars put the phone back up to his ear and did an extremely creepily accurate portrayal of a woman's voice.

"Hello, this is linda, Lars's mother",

"' Hello linda. It's nice to meet you.'",

"It's nice to meet you too'",

"'Thanks. I understand that your taking care of my son?'"

"Yes,'"

"'Than you wouldn't mind if I asked a few questions?'"

"Fire away,"

Matthew watched them talk for a few seconds before reaching into his back-pack for a paper and pencil. He used them to write messages to Lars without his mother hearing. Also making sure his mother would call his humanities teacher and ask if he could turn it in later for him. If today wasn't such a shit day already, he might've considered it a good day.

"Hey you going to smoke that? 'cause if your not I'd rather you put it out",Lars looked questioningly down at Matthew.

Matthew in turn looked down at he smoking joint in his hands, " Sure I guess... I mean, there's a first for everything,".

He looked questioningly down at the joint before taking a long drag. It was the same as before but to a lesser extent. Eventually he got past the coughing and wheezing and started to feel the effects of the weed. His arms were glued to his sides and he just wanted to get up and hug lars, but his longing to hug him was over powered by his over whelming need to just sit there, and he was O.K with that.

"This your first time smoking?"Lars asked curiously.

"Yeah," Matthew nodded his head lazily to support his claim.

"Thought so. Now why you hiding out down here?"Lars worked rolling up a new joint as he talked.

"Really, I would just leave, but I need to wait for gilbert to get out of detention so I can make him help me look for my flash-drive with my essay on it, but looking back on it now it really isn't that important, at least I'll still be passing if I don't get it in,"matthew sighed at the effort it took to say all that.

"Man, you are really loaded, and I didn't expect you to be friends with the infamous gilbert. You know, there's a time when you hit rock bottom.",Lars got up and walked to the fridge, thinking that maybe the panda keychain he through away earlier might be this kid's.

"Man you got a case of the munchies yet? Cause I got some chips and Dr. Pepper."Lars showed matthew the food and suddenly Matthew was ravenous.

"Damn, I never realized how delicious a bag of chips were until now,"Matthew started to get up but before he could lars tossed the bag and the bottle to him. He just barely caught the bottle before Lars turned on the hidden stereo , It was playing 'Young Wild and Free' by wiz khalifa and snoop dogg.

He raised his Dr. Pepper in the air motioning for matthew to do the same. There were a few seconds when he thought he would drop the thing but he pulled through.

"Cheers!"

* * *

><p><strong>First of all, I hoped you liked it and would be most gracious for some reviews, and second, I am so sorry that I haven't been updating the story I've just been really busy, please don't be mad. I'll be updating a lot more regularly with quite a few more words from now on. Plus I'm considering getting a beta, so my writing might suddenly get a lot more readable.<strong>

**As always R&R, Au Revoir**


	5. Chapter 5

Gilbert nearly burst with laughter after he walked in on matthew smoking with Lars. The scene was so impossibly wrong that it was straight up hilarious.

"You know, in this state smoking weed is a little bit more than a misdemeanor."Gilbert said with a smile.

"Your not gonna do anything 'Mr. I-duck-in-the-bushes-when-I-see-a-cop." Matthew shot back, "By the way, as soon as I'm done with these chips I'm going to make you help me find my flash drive." Matthew greedily dumped his hand back in the bag, pulled out a handful and shoved it in his mouth.

"Man, that dude has a serious case of the munchies," Lars pointed out to gilbert.

"Nah, really? Anyways, I've seen you eat entire pizza's by yourself. So you have no room to talk." Gilbert crossed his arms and gave Lars a critical look.

Lars just looked back lazily and said, " Im out of food."

Gilbert's face way to astonishment. Lars had a food supply that could rival that of one of those disaster survival shelters. He wasn't even sure how that was physically possible, the human stomach could only handle so much food. This had to end before matthew exploded.

"Okay matthew thats enough, lets go." Gilbert said, as authoritatively as he could. He crossed the room and took hold of Matthews hand. When he pulled though, it was like trying to lift a lead weight.

"Stop that gilbert. I'm warning you." Matthew gave gilbert a hard glare. But gilbert by passed the look of fire and continued tugging. Suddenly he felt a pull on his wrist and his feet left the ground. Not one to be outdone gilbert grabbed the wrist of the hand grabbing him, twisted and pulled. Both matthew and gilbert ended up sprawled on the floor behind the couch.

"dammit matthew, would you stop eating and get off me? your on a one way track to being the next Ivan!"Gilbert yelled. He tried pulling himself free but stopped when he heard something pop.

"Did you just call me fat?" matthew cried, on the verge of tears.

"YES!, and I'll say so again if it gets you off of me." suddenly all the air rushed out of gilberts lungs and a terrible aching feeling pulsed throughout his stomach. Gilbert felt like he was gonna puke,and matthew had just punched him in the stomach.

"Damn kid. You are one angry pothead," whistled lars re-announcing his presence in the room.

"Damn straight" Matthew got up off of gilbert who proceded to cradle his stomach and rock back and forth on the floor.

…...

Alfred threw the flash drive up and down in the air. Proud of his plan to get matthew to stop hating him. It was simple, steal the flash drive, then matthew will drive himself crazy looking for it, than in comes alfred with the beloved drive and bam! just like that he's Mattie's hero again. Yes, it was the perfect plan.

"Alfred! We're like, going to be late. Stop like, daydreaming!"Alfred looked over at his friend Feliks.

"What class do we have next?" Alfred questioned. He didn't actually care and in all honesty just wanted to ditch the rest of the day. He'd already missed one class while in the principle's office.

"English and You cant skip this one. I know your failing."Feliks fixed alfred with a hard look.

"Dude, everyone knows I'm failing, just back off man. I'm going."With a sigh, alfred turned and headed for class. Feliks quickly catching up with him.

"Hey, do you get the feeling something's like, missing?" Feliks asked out of the blue.

"No, why would I?"

"I don't know like, it just feels like your missing something"

"Sorry to disappoint ya but I'm not missing anything,"

"Whoa no need to get like, prissy. Just asking, why're you in such a bad mood?" Alfred stopped at Feliks's question.

"Sorry man I just got a lot going on right now."Alfred started walking again. Why was he in such a bad mood? It was just one argument with matthew. It wasn't even their biggest fight. Matt had actually attacked him when their parents went to his football game and not matt's hockey one. But their was something about this fight that made him feel uneasy. Before he knew it he was at his desk with the teacher chastising him for being late.

The teacher was saying something about auxiliary verbs when he first noticed it. The characteristic roar of a motorcycle. Then that smell that reminded him of french fries. It looked like gilbert was ditching again. Alfred couldn't see why matthew liked him so much, if anything Gilbert looked a bit shady. But hey, Matt wanted to hang out with him and he wasn't going to tell matt what to do. He learned that the hard way. Alfred looked out the window, It was actually really lucky no one took this seat because usually it was prime real-estate. Alfred caught a glimpse of the bike leaving the parking lot, And sure enough it was gilbert riding it with matthew. Gilbert was ditching school with...

"DAMMIT!MATTHEW!"

Alfred jumped up out of his with his hands balled into fists. It took a moment for him to realize that he had the stunned attention of the entire class. He chanced a look at the teacher, fearing what was to come. The look on her face was he worse than what he expected. It looked like she was going to explode, and as much as he would love to see that happen. He didn't want it directed at him

"Alfred F Jones, to the principles office... NOW"

He didn't need to be told twice . He gathered his stuff dumped them in his backpack and was outta there.

Alfred didn't go to the principles office though he went directly to the front door and out. This was going to come back to him, he was sure of it but he couldn't stand by and let gilbert do who knows what to his baby brother he just couldn't . he ran to his car and quickly got in. If he hurried he could still follow them.


	6. Chapter 6

** Author's Note **

**I have just replaced the old chapters of Lesson Learned with the ones edited by my beta and I'm hoping that maybe I will get an up turn in views and reviews. I haven't added any new chapters lately because my cat decided to murder my old computer, but now that I've set everything up on my new computer I'm not quite sure that I still have the inspiration to keep writing this story. So I'm hoping that maybe people will start reviewing and give me a reason to continue with this. MDWOLFGIRL I thank you so much for your reviews. Your the reason I didn't stop after chapter 2.**


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